AUDIO
NAMM 2024 TEC TRACKS RECAP | Jeff Hawley
Jeff Hawley ( far right ) addressing a question from workshop attendees .
The NAMM Show is one of the key events of the year for pro audio and musical instrument companies , held in Anaheim and drawing 62,000 people from 125 countries . The usual trade show booth areas offered an interactive look at the latest and greatest gear from electric kazoos to 59-piece drum sets to guitars crafted from dinosaur bones . Aside from the seemingly endless displays of musical gear , NAMM presents hundreds of informative training sessions and panel discussions from experts across the audio industry spectrum . This year I had the pleasure of presenting two special sessions — ‘ Live Sound Trends in Touring and Worship ’ and ‘ Sound , Teamwork and Stagecraft for House of Worship ’. Here is a quick recap of the key topics that came up in each session .
‘ LIVE SOUND TRENDS IN TOURING AND WORSHIP ’ SESSION This session featured a diverse panel as I was joined by Mike Bangs ( Live Sound & Touring
Manager — Allen & Heath USA , engineer for Katy Perry , George Strait , Aerosmith , etc .), Tim Omel ( Veteran Engineer & Console Technician ), Jim Yakabuski ( Director of Audio Projects , Live Productions — Solotech , engineer for Rob Thomas , Gwen Stefani , etc .), and Worship Musician ’ s own Doug Doppler . While we touched on a variety of topics , a few common themes did emerge .
COMPACT MIXERS FOR THE WIN First off , the trend toward compact mixers and touch-based interfaces was noted . Consoles like the Allen & Heath CTi1500 packs the power of a large touring mixer into a format that is small enough to be checked as airline luggage . Coming in under the flight weight maximum ( under 50lbs . even with a flight case included ), a 12 ″ touchscreen , 12 faders , and 19 Assignable SoftKeys make navigation quick and easy . Just because engineers can mix on a surface this small , do they ? Turns out that each of the panelists had taken out a CTi1500 on a major production by choice — when the tour or production budget would have allowed for consoles in a much higher budget range . So in many cases the importance of having a compact console seemed to top the list , with the affordability of packages like the CTi1500 ( and its paired MixRack ) was a bonus . Compact and powerful - check . Affordable - check . Other manufacturers now offer flexible and lightweight options as well . The Waves LV1 was mentioned as another platform to check out , as well as new offerings from Midas and Yamaha .
MONO , STEREO , IMMERSIVE ? Another hot topic that came up was immersive audio . The general consensus here was that we are likely still in the early stages of immersive when it comes to live sound . None of the panelists expected a widespread switch to immersive audio in the worship environment any time soon . Being able to present a cohesive and effective mix in stereo is a skill unto itself ( and much preferred to mixing in mono )— and
104 February 2024 Subscribe for Free ...